TURN BACK! Wyoming GPS is Trying To KILL YOU!
People are getting frustrated.
Signs are popping up all over.
"TURN BACK - YOU'RE GPS IS WRONG!"
Let's just hope drivers actually read those signs rather than just blowing by them.
It's not like it was easier in the past.
Old paper maps and mistakes.
People got confused and lost all the time.
People following Mr. Bozeman, on the trail named after him, got lost because he forgot the route. Here they are following behind the guy who made the route and the map and they were still misled.
But with new technology comes new problems.
GPS in Wyoming has told people that interstates were closed when that highway was not.
Then again, WYDOT's own website has done the same thing, and it has real people working it, not some computer program.
Recently, a story in Cowboy State Daily addressed the problem:
So many people have ended up on County Road 401 south of Rawlins — which is closed in the winter — Carbon County officials installed the sign on a gate blocking the road.
Google Maps attempts to reroute people on this road when Interstate 80 between Saratoga/Walcott Jct. and Rawlins is closed. (CSD).
It's not just Wyoming.
Signs like these are popping up all over the place as drivers head out into the middle of no place, sometimes in snow, and get stuck, or run out of gas, or both.
Don't blame Google.
Well, blame them a little, but...
Yes, Google has problems and they are working on it.
The GPS system has problems too.
Also, maps, which are created by people, have mistakes that people often make.
Just ask the Donner Party.
That's cold I know.
But they had a bad map that caused them to make a wrong turn in Wyoming.
They even spoke to the gentleman who made that map, and he gave them bad advice.
They got so lost they ended up eating each other to survive.
So things have not improved that much, despite all our modern technology.
The only real answer here is, if you are going someplace that you have never been before, do your homework.
That means looking at satellite photos as well.